What I Read in 2023

For some reason, I decided to keep track of all the books I read in 2023. I don’t know if it’s because I discovered the Libby app, which allows me to take out even more eBooks and audiobooks from my local library or because I talked with co-workers at our annual conference about books and reading so much at the end of 2022 that it got me curious. Either way, it was fun to keep track of what I read so that I can review and make recommendations to friends and family.

I did not count re-reads – as I re-read many books as a way to fall asleep at night. I also noted if a book was started in a previous year. I did count audiobooks, since I spent just as much time and possibly more reading some of those than I did print or eBooks. And I also counted comic books/graphic novels – because they are so fun, though definitely a different reading experience.

Here’s my list!

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (started in 2022)*
The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll
Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley (audiobook)*
Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
…And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile (audiobook)*
Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin*
Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
Tyrant by Stephen Greenblat
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
The Night Guard by Terry Pratchett (audiobook)
When you are engulfed in flames by David Sedaris
Little Fish by Casey Platt
Unbound by Tarana Burke (audiobook)
Babel by RF Kuang (audiobook)
The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham (audiobook)
Teenage Dick by Mike Leus (play)
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume*
City of Thieves by David Benioff
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett
I Might Regret This by Abbi Jensen
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Deenie by Judy Blume (audiobook)
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (audiobook)*
The Future is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Hearts of the Missing: A Mystery by Carol Potenza
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
In the Serpent’s Wake by Rachel Hartman
A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
Agnes Grey by Emily Bronte
They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Gotham Central Police Department Volume 1: In the Line of Duty by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and Michael Lark (comic book)
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree*
A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus*
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (audiobook)
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (started in 2022)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie
Gotham Central Police Department Volume 2: Jokes and Madmen by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and Michael Lark (comic book)
Gotham Central Police Department Volume 3: On the Freak Beat by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and Michael Lark (comic book)
A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver (poetry)
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King
Gotham Central Police Department Volume 4: Corrigan by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and Michael Lark (comic book)
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Summons by John Grisham
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline*
Saga Volume 11 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Seven of these were recommendations from my best friend – we traded booklists for Christmas 2022 and I enjoyed slowly working my way through for almost all of 2023.

I had been working on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books since 2020 when a friend told me to re-start with Guards! Guards! (I tried to read this series from the beginning with The Color of Magic back in university, but I did not enjoy it. Turns out, the city watch and witches are more my cup of tea than the wizards. I might come back to them – who knows how my taste has changed in 10+ years?!?).

I read my first ever Agatha Christie novel and then embarked on the Miss Marple series, which I have LOVED. They are such quick reads and unexpected in the ways they pull their elderly sleuth into the action. I now see why Agatha Christie has stood the test of time and sold so so so many books. The movie See How They Run really put me onto this path, so I highly recommend that film, too.

I read/listened to eight nonfiction books, many of them memoirs. I want to get back to reading more of these in 2024 because they really opened my mind. I especially loved listening to Brandi Carlile’s Broken Horses and cannot recommend it as an audiobook enough. She sings at the end of each chapter. It’s like a private concert.

The little stars are by my favourite reads of the year. These are the ones that I will and do recommend to friends and family – or strangers who are intrigued by my list! – to try out. (I didn’t include the Discworld series or any Agatha Christie because it’s not really one book in either instance there – it’s a whole series :).